Stuff treatment apparatus



July 20, 1937. c, TQLMAN 2,087,560

STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS Original Filed March 28, 1954 2 SheetsSheet 1 P- a Z I I a I I V IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/ I I INVENTOR I Charles]? Tolman $22; mdr wwg ATTORNEYS July 20, 1937. c. P. TOLMAN 2,087,550

STUFF TREATMENT APPARATU? I Original Filed March 28, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ch gt rles P Tolr'nan @Zm (Lazy; Q M

ATTORNEYS Patented July 20, 1937 UNITED S'FATES PATENT OFFICE STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS ration of New York Original application March 28, 1934, Serial No.

Divided and this application January 12, 1937, Serial No. 120,312

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for stuif treatment wherein the material to be treated is passed in fluid form or in a fluid medium through a treatment zone and there subjected to suitable forces for producing the desired change of condition. One object of my invention, in so far as it relates to treating fibrous cellulose material for making paper, board, or the like, has been to provide apparatus for defibering and finishing the stock wherein the character and/or extent of treatment thereof may be effectively controlled to produce a product having materially improved quality as compared to stocks treated in heaters of the Hollander or Jordan types for example. For a summary of more recent hypotheses hearing on cellulose treatment phenomena in paper making, I refer to a pamphlet by W. Boyd Campbell, entitled The Cellulose Water Relationship in Paper Making, published 1933 by the Department of the Interior, Canada. In view of conflicting theories as to what takes place in preparing pulp for the paper or board machine, i. e. whether the effect is chemical and therefore hydration, or physical and therefore fibrillation and/or wetting or a combination of these, I employ the term finishing to designate generically the treatment applied to pulp or the like at the beater stage, it being understood, however, that the term is also used by me to include analogous treatment of other substances.

In accordance with my invention, where fibrous cellulose material of suitable consistency in a fluid medium is treated, I deliver a supply of the stock under pressure into contact with a portion of the peripheral surface of a high speed rotor provided with transverse peripheral grooves. For effective operation, the feed pressure used is sufficient to overcome the centrifugal counterforce developed by rotation at high speeds, i. e.

' of the order of 5000 feet per minute or more. A quantity of stock is thus forced into each rotor groove and carried by the rotor into a film shearing gap or treating zone preferably formed between the rotor periphery and a suitable stator or stators spaced therefrom a distance of the order'of .005 of an inch or less. In this zone the entire contents of each groove are subjected g of operation ar in general, that for a given rotor speed the capacity or rate of throughput 55 for stock of given consistency varies with the feed pressure; that for a given feed pressure the character and/or degree of finishing varies with the zone or gap pressure and/or the extent or length of the zone or gap; that the amount of cutting or shortening of the fibers is uniformly negligible compared to the amount of fibrillation and/or wetting or hydration, whatever the feed and/or gap or zone pressures employed; and that deflbering, i. e. the breaking down of bundles of fibers into smaller groups or single fibers, is a constant factor regardless of the degree or character of wetting or hydration.

In view of the widely varying peculiarities of different kinds of stocks and the different treatment characteristics required for various ultimate products, my invention further contemplates testing the treated material and then adjusting the feed and/or gap or zone pressure and/or length of gap or zone to increase or diminish the extent of "finishing required to render the material suitable for its intended purpose. The gap or zone pressure may be adjusted by regulating the rotor speed, by increasing 'or decreasing pressure on the stator, or, in any other suitable manner.

To summarize therefore, my invention so far as it relates to the treatment of fibrous materials in a fluid medium includes broadly apparatus wherein means are provided for subjecting a supply of the stock to initial or feed pressure, removing successively presented small portions of the supply from the initial or feed pressure condition to a treatment zone, and there subjecting said separated small portions simultaneously to treating forces under increased pressure to efiect deflbering, wetting and/or hydration, and fibrillationv substantially without cutting or shortening of the fibers. If the circumstances require, afurther operative step includes testing a treated portion of the material and adjusting the time of treatment and/or the feed or gap or zone pressure to change the character and/or degree of treatment.

The subject matter of the present application has been divided out and forms a division of my pending application Serial No. 717,717 filed March 28, 1934 for Stuff treatment apparatus.

One embodiment of apparatus adapted for use in connection with the treatment or preparation of paper stock or the like is illustrated in the accompanying drawings attached to and forming a part of the present specification and in which Figure 1 is a front end elevation with outer parts thereof removed to disclose interior portions and with other structural features shown in vertical section;

Figure 2, a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3, a fragmentary detail in section illustrating, on an enlarged scale, the rotor groove and land contours.

In the machine shown in the drawings, a rotor I, having peripheral grooves 31, is mounted to rotate in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1, in a superstructure supported on a base 2 and is driven through shaft 3 by a motor or other power source, not shown. Shaft 3 is journaled in bearings l mounted in spiders 6, one of which is opposite a front frame 6 and the other of which is opposite a rear frame I, said' frames being spaced apart by suitable means, as, at the bottom, by a casting 8 and at the top by a spacer 0. A tie bolt l0 passes through upper portions of both frames and the spacer 9. Another tie bolt ll, Figure 1, passes through lower portions of said frames and through said casting 8.

The inner face of frame 6 forms an annular shoulder II and the inner face of frame 1 forms an annular shoulder I 2. Bolts l3 secure the spacer 9 in operative position between the frames 6 and I. As shown in Figure 1, the mill is provided with a plurality of radially arranged stator units removably mounted between frames 6 and 1 and including cylinder caps l5 secured to the shoulders I I and I 2 by bolts ll passing through end portions of cylinder blocks l6. Each stator unit also includes a shoe carrier l8 movable in a radial direction toward and from rotor I and having a dovetail slot l0 adapted to releasably retain a shoe, as 20 or 2|. The shoe 20, hereinafter designated the first shoe, is preferably of suitable metal and fitted with a projecting nose 22. The shoes 2| may be made of wood, metal or other suitable material, depending on the conditions of use.

The working faces of the shoes may be contlnuous or plain for some purposes, or, as shown in Figure 1, may be provided with grooves 205.

It has been found that with the grooved and/or recessed shoe a greater amount of power can be eflectively applied to the same character of stock under treatment.

In the space between the first shoe 20 and the last shoe 2|, suitably formed castings provide a feed inlet chamber or passage 23, a stock discharge or outlet passage or chamber 24, and a trash discharge passage or chamber 25. The inlet chamber 23 communicates with a feed inlet opening 26 at one side of the base 2, and, as shown in Figure 2, the discharge chamber 24 communicates with a discharge opening 21 near the front end of the base.. A drain opening 28, in base 2, connects with the trash discharge passage 25 and also receives waste or leakage through seal ring drain passages 29, 30, 3|, Figure 2, and other drain passages 32 and 33, Figure 1. A removable cover 34 closes an opening into the feed inlet chamber 23 and a removable cover 35 closes an opening into the discharge passage or chamber 24. A doctor bar 36 extends across said chamber opposite the last shoe 2| and is adjustable toward and from the rotor periphery. Another transverse bar 38 is mounted in the feed chamber 23 opposite the first shoe 20 and is adjustable toward and from the rotor periphery. A small chamber 39 between said bars 36 and connects with the drain passage 3| through openings or ducts 40.

The drain passage 3| connects with the stock discharge chamber and opening 21 so that, under spanned some circumstances, leakage stock may be carried into the finished stock. A removable plug 201 having a handle 200 is seated in the drain passage 30' when it is desired to route the leakage material to drain 23 through passage 30. By opening passage 30' and closing e 30 by means of plug 201, the leakage material runs into the stock discharge chamber.

In normal operation of a mill of the type thus far described, thefurnish or material'for treatment, where it comprises up to 10% of wood pulp in water for example, is forced in a continuous supply under suitable pressure through inlet opening 26 and feed chamber 23 into contact with the grooved periphery of rotor l which, in a preferred embodiment, attains a peripheral speed of about 12,000 feet per minute. Particles of suitable size are forced by the feed pressure into the. peripheral grooves 31 each of which, in the mill as shown in Figures 1 and 3 is around %ths inch wide, decreasing in depth rearwardly from a maximum of approximately .08 inch near its leading edge to the land between its rear edge and the next groove and defining a. substantially stream line contour of the leading face of the land which is believed to produce a combined scouring and wiping effect in. operation. It will be understood that these dimensions and the shape of the grooves may be varied to meet different conditions of use. During rotation, each groove of the rotor, as it passes the feed chamber 23, picks up a small amount of pulp, depending on the amount of the feed pressure, which therefore determines the mills capacity or rate of throughput, and carries it into the. treatment zone or shearing gap where it is subjected to the intended treatment, provided the material presented is of suitable size to pass the inlet opening to said zone. In respect to any given kind of stuff, the insufficiently reduced particles andforeign objects such as pieces of wire, gravel, glass, etc. and other trash therein accumulate against or adjacent to the front face of shoe 20 and, unless removed, eventually obstruct the supply of stock to the treatment zone.

As applied to the preparation, refining or finishing of fibrous cellulose material in paper and board manufacture, apparatus of the types shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive, when operated in connection with suitable methods. provides a stock refining action which produces a high degree of wetting in relation to the amount of "cutting. For practical purposes, it may be said that the apparatus produces wetting without cutting, the reduction in fiber length being so small as to be negligible. In this respect said apparatus is free from the operatinglimitations inherent in machines of the Hollander and Jordan types and others in which increased "wetting effect is always accompanied by increased cutting.

To achieve effective control over the character and/or extent of treatment of the stufi' fed to the mill, each shoe carrier l8 ls'mounted at the ends of rods 19 of pistons 8| operating in cylinders of the cylinder block I6, and means are provided to controllably move said pistons and therefore the shoes 2i toward and away from the treatment zone or gap. g e

In the treatment of sulphite pulp, for example, this being one of many uses for which have been used with hydraulic pressures of from 15 30 to pounds per square inch applied to the shoes through the pistons and thence to the stuif under treatment in the treatment zone, these figures being illustrative and in no sense intended as limitations.

I have found that by employing my apparatus hereinabove described in the preparation of paper stock I have produced an intermediate product having novel properties which present material advantages in paper manufacture and the like. For example, the described treatment permits the refining, wetting, or finishing of pulp to be carried to any desired degree without cutting or reducing the fiber length, which means that hydration or wetting may be effected independently of cutting. vIf for any given paper machine or paper product, more cutting is needed to facilitate sheet formation after the stock has reached approximately the desired degree of wetting, this can be done by a relatively short treatment in a Jordan or other cutting machine, or the required amount of a shorter fibered pulp may be added to the run either before or after the wetting or finishing treatment.

Furthermore, my improved apparatus produces a completely defibered pulp, i. e. a finished sufiicient or suitable for paper making purposes. Pulp defects of this kind, according to known paper mill practice. are avoided or disposed of only by long and most exacting and consequently expensive beater or equivalent treatment. Some other advantages among many residing in the defibering capabilities of my apparatus are that the pulp may be finished with less prolonged previous cooking and, under proper conditions, broke may be refinished after a simple breaker treatment instead of rerouting it through beaters or other time and power consuming devices.

Numerous other advantages and beneficial results in the operation of my above described apparatus, including substantial economies in time and power, will be clearly apparent to the skilled paper maker.

I claim:

In stuff treatment apparatus, the combination of a rotor having transverse peripheral grooves alternating with lands to form an irregular'peripheral contour, each of said grooves having its maximum depth near its trailing edge with a diminishing depth gradient toward its leading edge to produce in efiect a succession of substantially stream line land and groove contours around the rotor periphery.

CHARLES P. TOL'MAN. 

